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Sunday, April 8, 2012

Artist Spotlight: Mikael Ennis

Mikael Ennis, is one of this year’s directors for Gainesville Fashion Week's opening night art-show. An amazing yet very busy artist himself, we were lucky enough to snag him for a couple minutes to hear about what we can expect for this year's art show thats rumored to be GFW's best YET!! He's been scouting all over the world for new found pieces to wow the Gainesville community for Wednesday's grand opening of festivities! Check out his exclusive interview with GFW about his inspirations, his personal art-work and how he choose the artist that will be on displaying their work at this year's GFW 2012 art-show!

Q. Define your style of art? Is there a certain name, genre?

A. “I feel as though my art is always changing and to label it as a certain genre or style would be quite difficult.”

Q. How do you get inspired to do the art that you do?

A. Ennis told GFW that most of his art and creativity driven behind his work is influenced by music and different life occurrences.

“I believe a lot of things factor in that give me inspiration when doing my art. First and foremost my first true inspiration was graffiti,” he said. “Once I started I was immediately addicted.” “Second, I think my mood plays a huge variable in my art.”

Q. Who is your favorite artist & why?

A. “I get this question asked way too often. It’s such an easy question, yet so complex. My newest would have to be EL MAC. He's a photorealistic artist out of Mexico that does a bunch of collaborations with a west coast artist RETNA,” Ennis said. “Also an artist called KOFI. He's a drafter by trade and it definitely reflects in his calm and elegant pieces of art." “Lastly, another personal favorite is Françoise Nielly, I am extremely excited to see her work in person this summer while visiting Paris."

Q. As art director of GFW 2012, you’ve seen all of what’s going to be showcased? Can you give us a sneak peak of what we can expect?

A. “I hand picked a majority of the artist this year by taking many different avenues to reach them, he said." "I am beyond stoked to have the lineup that we have this year we have a bit of everything for everyone's liking.”

Q. What are you most excited for at this year’s art show?

A. Ennis told GFW that he is excited for everyone that is a part of this year’s art show but he gave us a heads up on whose work he suggest to look out for!

“ I have two guys from Sarasota that I'm sure will definitely turn heads, “ Ennis told GFW. “Karl Boardman and Keith Alvarado. “Their styles are complete opposite of each other, but I'm a huge fan of both of them.”

Q. What is your favorite piece of art of your own creation?

A. “ I would have to say my blue hand. I really enjoy the light blues within the piece.”

Sounds interesting, wanna know what he's talking about...you'll just have to come out to our event and see :)

Q. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 to 10 years?

A. “I hope to still be creating art. Moreover, I would like to have accomplished my childhood dream of traveling to every country,” he said. “If I could tie the two together, that would be great.”

Be sure to check out Ennis’ work and all of the amazing contributing artist’s pieces that will be on display at this year’s Gainesville Fashion Week THIS Wednesday, for our GFW opening night art-show at Villa East!